Dig Two Graves Ch. 03

"In other words, you are not able to prove anything." Vicky says.

"At the current moment, some of what we have turned up is our best guess, but other information is not questionable. We anticipate receiving a lot more information today."

"For instance?" Vicky asks.

"I'm not interested in hearing any more of their spin, bullshit and lies," Susie says.

"We need to hear them out Susie," Vicky conjures. "It will either be here or in court."

"Fine," she says, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms.

"First, we noticed all the photographs were taken between 1:30 AM and 1:32 AM. That is a very short time period. If these pictures were being taken by someone covertly, like a PI, they would have taken many more pictures than just eight, and the pictures would have been spread out over more time."

I pause to see if there is any reaction. Vicky simply motions for him to continue.

"The second thing we wish to point out is that the man in the picture doesn't move the entire time. Not one single movement while engaged in sex. We know from the clock the time period is at least1 minute and two seconds, and possibly as long as three minutes."

I look directly at Susie. "Susie, the man in this picture didn't move at all in these pictures for three minutes! Who lies perfectly still for three minutes while they are having sex? The person would need to be either drugged or dead!"

I stop when I realize what I just said. Susie's response is nothing short of a cold stare.

"That's not what I meant," I add. I remember our last conversation before I left on my trip and this entire scene from hell started. Our last conversation was an argument, an argument about sex. And one of the final things I accused her was how un-involved she was while we made love. How she seemed to just lie there.

Sighing I struggle to continue. "We also wish to point out these pictures have obviously been staged," using Bud's words from yesterday.

"Staged? How do you come to that conclusion?" Vicky asks.

First, look at both the calendar and the clock. They have been turned and faced the camera, not the bed or the majority of the room." I stop for a moment and take a piece of paper out of the folder.

"This is a layout of the room including dimensions. You can see there is only about four feet from the bed to the exterior wall. There is no chair, no desk, and no furniture except for a floor lamp on that side of the room. There is no logical reason for the calendar and alarm clock to face the exterior window, unless it would be advantageous as a chronological time stamp for whoever took the pictures."

"That's a wild leap of logic," Vicky responds. "Everything you have been saying is all conjecture and speculation."

"On the contrary," Bill counters quickly. "It makes no sense for the clock to be turned toward the window away from the bed. Can you think of any good reason?"

"Easily," Vicky says. "Mr. Vickers when he got up in the morning slapped the snooze button and twisted the clock. Or perhaps while wildly engaged in sex he hit the clock and that's why he's motionless in the pictures while trying to recover his energy."

Susie snorts a short laugh. I look at Vicky in shock. Up to now she had handled herself with professionalism and had not taken cheap shots. I understood she was Susie's representative yet she had done a good job of being balanced. I couldn't help but just stare at her. She held my gaze for a good five seconds before turning her head a bit.

"Do you also have such a cute answer for the calendar?" I ask coldly.

"What the hell is wrong with the calendar?" Susie asks. Obviously you hit the calendar while having wild sex too."

"Cute of you too," I respond even more coldly. "But perhaps you didn't actually check with the hotel to see if they use these types of large font one-day-a-page tear away calendars. If you have bothered to do any checking at all instead of just swallowing evidence of a man that is known to be my enemy, you would have discovered they don't furnish a calendar in the room at all. I know for a fact I didn't put that calendar in my room. So who did? Who put the calendar in my room? Why have it turned toward the window."

I pause for a brief moment hoping that fact sinks in. "Susie, do you remember what day I left Houston on my last trip."

Susie just sit at the table, her arms crossed stiffly, staring coldly at me.

I sigh again. "Let me remind you. It was Sunday the 15^th."

"If you say so," she replies.

"You know what my itinerary was."

"I know what you told me it was."

Grimacing in frustration I reach down into my satchel and extract another folder. Opening it, I lay two documents on the table. "The first is a copy of my plane ticket from Houston to Austin. The second one is a copy of my hotel registration in the afternoon in Austin. You'll notice both say the 15^th."

"OK, you were in Austin on the 15^th. Big deal."

"In the pictures in front of you, what day does this miraculously appearing calendar say?"

Susie doesn't move, her eyes not leaving my face. Out of the corner of my eye I see Vicky leaning forward. "It says the 15^th."

"Exactly," I respond. "The evening of the 14^th, Weston, Schmidt and I had just closed a big deal in Houston in one of the conference rooms in the hotel. Then our entire group went to celebrate, all but Heidi who characteristically didn't join us in a celebration involving alcohol. I'm not sure about Schmidt but I know Weston had quite a few drinks. I had one beer and then water. But my point is, do you know anyone that would flip one of these calendars to the next day when they go to bed? Isn't it amazing that this miraculously appearing calendar is also miraculously showing the correct date at 1:30 in the morning?

"Did you find it odd Susie that Schmidt gave you negatives? Why use an old ASA style camera? Maybe a professional would still use an ASA film camera but practically everyone else in this decade uses a digital camera. Maybe Schmidt was concerned that you would believe the digital picture was faked, as they easily can be? Didn't you find that suspicious?

"Did you notice that the camera used a flash? You can see the shadow of the desk chair on the wall. That flash certainly made it a lot easier to recognize the two people in bed. So just in case you thought these pictures were taken covertly, they obviously were not. And the fact that a flash was used means that the pictures could not have been taken with a telephoto through the hotel window. "

"So whoever was in that bed would either have been very aware of the camera, or they were drugged. And even if you think I would be stupid enough to allow pictures to be taken of me in that position, you know damn fucking well Heidi would never have allowed it!"

I glare at Susie. For just a moment I see a softening of her features as my onslaught sinks in. For just a moment I see a possibility. Then almost as quickly her hard prosecutorial mask descends over her features."

"What's your whole purpose here Jake," Susie asks. "Did you just come here to wow and amaze us with how well you can spin a lie and a truth? Just what the hell have you proven?"

"OK, I'll give you that the picture was taken in the room. What does that prove? That you are that stupid? That you drugged Heidi or had her so under your control she no longer cared? That's what you have proven. You go on and on about calendars and clocks and luggage. What have you proven? Do you know what? That's still a picture of you and Heidi in that bed. That's still a picture of you two fucking. I'll never forgive you for cheating on me Jake. Never! Do you understand that? Now just get the hell out of here and stop wasting our time."

I look over at Bill. He shrugs. He turns back toward the two women and looks directly at Vicky.

"It has become obvious to both Jake and I that no matter what we present, no evidence will be satisfactorily to change your client's mind. I'm of the opinion that even if Schmidt came in here and confessed under oath she wouldn't waver in her conviction. That being the case we are going to leave. But before we do there are a few more tidbits of information that we need to share."

"First, we have not yet decided to pursue criminal charges against your client for assault and unlawful restraint, just to name a few to start. And in the event your client is all set on having one of her friends provide an alibi, you may wish to remind your client that as a prosecutor and an officer of the court, the amount of trouble she could get into for not only committing perjury, but in soliciting others to perjure themselves."

"Are you accusing my client of something Mr. Benner?" Vicky asks quickly.

"At the moment we are not. But you may wish to inform your client that the hospital where she and Schmidt unceremoniously dumped my client Friday night, in an unconscious state, wearing boxers and a robe, recently installed a high resolution video system. It's actually a very impressive system as the pictures are so clear that not only can we make out the license plate number of her car, but we can actually see her and Schmidt arguing. We have a professional, who is an expert in lip reading, scheduled to transcribe what the two of them argued about."

As Bill delivers his little speech, I sit back and watch the color slowly drain from Susie's face. She clearly understands what the implications would have been if we had allowed her to commit perjury before we presented contrary evidence. She also realizes that her ability to deny having an affair was weakened, as well as any defense that she physically assaulted me.

"Furthermore," Bill continues. "We have reviewed the divorce decree and there are three issues that we will contest and not negotiate. First, the house was inherited and wholly owned by my client prior to marriage to Ms. Vickers. We will not surrender any part of the house. Second, we will not surrender any part of any severance package that may or may not be offered. My client is prepared to simply resign and walk away from his firm before he will share the any part of a severance package that was caused by your client's lover. Also be warned that we will eventually get to the bottom of this setup. If we find evidence that your client was part of this setup from the beginning, we will not hesitate to turn over any evidence to state authorities. Last, my client will not sign the divorce decree if it lists him at fault due to adultery. We will give you until Friday to withdraw the current divorce filing and re-file with the cause as "Irreconcilable Differences". If that has not happened by end of business Friday, then we will counter file on Monday charging your client with adultery. That should make for interesting press for an Assistant District Attorney. "

"We do anticipate receiving additional forensic information over the next few days. We will forward any such information to Ms. Gambino's office. Perhaps it would be wise to resume discussion when more information is available."

Silence envelops the room.

"It will be pointless," Susie finally says having reclaimed her color and stiffness. "He's a cheater," Susie says nodding at me. "And I won't live with a cheater."

"You're wrong Susie. I never cheated on you," I say, biting my tongue since we both know she cheated on me.

Susie waves at the three photographs being swept up by Bill. "Obviously you did Jake."

Bill and I stand and I turn to go but we stop when I hear Bill's voice.

"Susie," Bill says. "Are you absolutely sure that Jake cheated on you?"

"Yes," she says simply and coldly.

"Are you sure? There's no chance you could be wrong? No chance you are being deceived or that you are misinterpreting the situation?

"Misinterpret?" Susie chokes out. "Look at the pictures! Look at the affidavit! How do you misinterpret Heidi straddling his waist and fucking him?"

"Are you just as sure that Jake cheated on you as you were sure I cheated on you?" He asks suddenly out of the blue.

I turn completely around and stare at Bill. "What's going on here? Bill shouldn't be bringing up their past. Not here, not now?"

Susie ignores me and stares intently at Bill with unconcealed contempt.

"Yes, I'm just as sure," she spits out. "In fact, I am even surer you cheated on me. I saw you with my own eyes hugging and kissing that 18 year old tramp."

Bill stares at her. "Ten years ago you never gave me a chance to explain."

"What's to explain?" Susie sneers. "I saw what you two were doing. No doubt she was on her way to your bed! Yes! I'm sure! You both are fucking lying cheating men just like ...".

Susie swallows the rest of the sentence and by the sour expression on her face it must have been bitter.

Bill sighs and starts to turn away. He looks up at me, his face bathed crimson red in anger. I begin to think it was a serious mistake to ask him to represent me.

Suddenly he turns back to Susie, reaches into his shirt pocket and takes out an old photograph. Bill reaches across the table to hand it to Susie but she recoils from the table as if Bill was a snake.

Bill tosses the picture on the table in front of her. I can't help but glance at it and see a very attractive pixie type blonde. The picture practically exudes cuteness.

"Do you recognize the person in the photograph?" Bill asks.

Susie glances at it and glares back up at him. "Yes I do. I rarely forget a face."

She mocks, "How do you think I could forget? That's the same slut I saw you hugging and kissing."

If I thought Bill looked angry before I was wrong. The anger on Bill's face disappears and is replaced with fury. "That slut, as you call her, is my younger sister. She was twenty on that day back in Austin, not eighteen. And she wasn't on her way to my bed. Instead she was on her way to spring break in Corpus Christi from Washington State University. She knew she had a stopover in Austin so she schedule some time to stop and see her brother that she hadn't seen for two years, and was so overjoyed she hugged and kissed him. I had hoped to introduce you two."

Bill picked up the photograph and slips it back into his pocket. Bill looks up at me. "I guess she can be wrong. Shall we Jake?" He indicates by nodding his head toward the door.

As Bill opens the door as I look back at Susie, her mouth open in shock and surprise. She notices me looking at her and the emotionless prosecutorial mask I've seen so often reappears and descends over her expressions like a lead curtain. "I don't know who you are anymore ..." I think to myself, turning and follow Bill out the door. As I begin to close the door behind me, I hear Susie's voice call out, "Fuck you. Fuck both of you!"

I stop and reopen the door enough to stick my head back inside. I look directly at Susie. "Fuck you?" I echo coldly. "Susie, since you have soiled yourself by fucking that asshole Schmidt, you'll never fuck me again." I close the door behind me and the two of us walk toward the reception area as I shake my head. "No one wins these things," I think to myself.